Smoking Weed While Pregnant and Its Adverse Effects

Cannabis, also known as weed, pot or marijuana, is the most used drug in the United States and United Kingdom and is used by a whole range of demographics. Considered a ‘safer’ drug, this means that people often underestimate its detrimental side effects and strength which can lead to people using it in a variety of unsuitable scenarios that make it even more dangerous. For example many people will drive while high among other foolish practices. Obviously someone who smokes pot regularly will find their judgement impaired and this will contribute to such behaviour.

While weed is not physically addictive, the ‘psychoactive’ substance in the mix (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol) can be psychologically addictive due to the ‘pleasant’ effects it causes. People refer to the effects of this substance as making them ‘high’ which then results in altered states of consciousness, euphoria, relaxation, joviality and others. However as any user will know it is not without its detrimental affects either and it can also result in feelings of nausea, increased and uncontrollable hunger, hallucinations, paranoia, anxiety, trembling, restlessness, insomnia, lethargy and others.

Due to the psychologically addictive nature of the drug along with the perception of it as being less harmful, many pregnant mothers even will continue to smoke marijuana despite these side effects. This is a big mistake however and is actually harmful for the foetus and potentially dangerous for them both.

What you need to be aware of, is the fact that a foetus gets all of its vital foodstuffs and nutrients from the body of the mother. In other words what you eat is what they eat, so if you are smoking marijuana, so too is your foetus. You wouldn’t give pot to a 10 year old, so you certainly should not allow an unborn infant to get high.

At the same time, smoking weed can interfere with the foetus’ blood supply and starve them of oxygen. This can lead to all kinds of types of damage, including brain damage in severe cases. Often though it will simply result in the baby being born wit h a particularly low birth weight and small size. This then further puts the child at risk and leaves them susceptible to other conditions such as jaundice, infections and more. It has also been linked to cases of ‘sudden infant death syndrome’ whereby the child dies for seemingly no reason (this has been linked to all kinds of other conditions such as sleep apnea but is as yet not fully understood). Weed also kills brain cells, and while a healthy infant should replace those, it is certainly not something you would choose to occur in the womb and something that would not under healthy normal circumstances. Furthermore smoking weed also exposes your child to all of the other additives used in a spliff. These include things like tobacco which can cause heart problems and again limit the body’s ability to transport blood and oxygen.

Studies have shown that exposure to all of these drugs can lead to developmental issues in later life – as one might expect. Children who were exposed to weed in the womb on average will reach their developmental ‘milestones’ (such as speech and walking) much later than those who weren’t. This then starts them off at a severe disadvantage in their education. Furthermore these children might exhibit jittery shaking and restlessness. Correlations have also been found with many diseases and disorders such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, leukaemia, autism and others. They also showed on average worse memory, judgement and social interaction skills.

Many people are very defensive when it comes to smoking weed and it is not hard to find communities of people online, and in the real world, who will viciously defend the use of marijuana – even while pregnant. Such individuals cling to the fact that very little has been proving regarding any permanent negative effects of cannabis and that contradictory evidence exists. However such people are largely deluding themselves and anyone who’s had a friend they have seen become addicted to marijuana will know how severe the negative affects can be. It is only to support their own delusion and protect their ego that these people are so keen to defend against cannabis and try to convince others.

At the end of the day though, if you can not give up marijuana for nine months for the sake of your child then this is a clear sign that you already have a problem. Furthermore, while you can not prove the negative effects or weed, nor can you disprove them, and it is certainly not worth risking your own child’s health.

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12 comments

This article is not based on any scientific research, it is politically constructed opinion, please look at research done by Melanie Dreher. The information about cannabis killing brain cells is just a myth and it is based on Dr. Robert G. Heath research where monkeys were suffocating with cannabis, his work was never replicated and has since been discredited. This article claims that cannabis cause attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, which was created and added in the DSM-II (1968) and it was called "Hyperkinetic Reaction of Childhood" however as we all know cannabis was in use for much longer, in England in the 16th century that King Henry VIII passed a law in 1553 which fined farmers who failed to grow at least one quarter acre of hemp for every 60 acres of arable land they owned. People were smoking cannabis far before they invented the ADHD! This article is just piece of very unreal speculations based on politic of fear, is just a shame that web which is named health guidance provide myths instead some research based information.

This has to be one of the dumbest articles I have ever read regarding this. You should research before publishing this overly arrogant opinion you have here. This is hardly factual. Why would Marijuana be used as a drug for people if it is so harmful? There are MANY medications prescribed to people that do more damage than what you claim weed does, so how about you read the side effects to over and behind the counter drugs before stating an opinion on a drug that doesn't have a side effect label.

People, please look at who are the producers of this site before trying to come up with a bull explanation of why this article is wrong. I agree that the ending is an opinion, but the rests are facts. Also, for the killing brain cells thing, it’s why people who smoke marijuana have worsened short/long term memory. Foetus is a British spelling of the word Fetus. ADHD IS NOT INVENTED. It existed long before we named it, but we just didn’t know what it was. People considered ADHD to be a lack of concentration instead of a neurological disorder. That's like saying that there were no black people in ancient Rome like they weren't "invented" yet. Same thing with being gay.

I wish people would pull their heads out of their asses and realize that smoking pot is just plain stupid ESPECIALLY while pregnant. I think I will send this article to the mother of my boyfriend’s son. He has an intellectual disability and I firmly believe that it is because she smoked pot in the first trimester of her pregnancy with him. Great job Mom!! Your son will never have a normal life because you felt that pot was more important than a healthy – normal developed child.

Virtually all of the "facts" in this article are false. The majority have been proved false and/or propaganda.

It is dangerous to write an article based on false information. Please, in the future, do more research. Your information, or rather lack thereof, is detrimental to society and allows the furtherance of misinformation toward marijuana.

And by the way, you didn't name one positive effect as a result of marijuana use. This is a problem. We are ignoring a HUGELY helpful substance in the medical field. This bias is ridiculous and people live miserable lives, even though they may not have to, because of this.

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